|
Longtime Drake Relays Director Ehrhart dies
Bob Ehrhart, who directed the prestigious Drake Relays for 31 years,
died of cancer at his West Des Moines home on Sunday. He was 75.
A native of Naperville, Ill., Ehrhart was a high school and college
track and field coach for 34 years, including 31 seasons in the
collegiate ranks. The 1954 graduate of Northwestern University guided
the track program at his alma mater for nine seasons before coming to
Drake in 1969.
He served as coach for the United States track and field team which
competed in the 1989 World Cup Championships in Barcelona, Spain, and on
the U.S. team which competed against England in a dual meet at
Birmingham, England, in 1985. He also served as head manager of the U.S.
track and field team in the 1993 World Outdoor Championships in
Stuttgart, Germany as well as the 1997 Junior Pan American Games in
Havana, Cuba.
Ehrhart also was president of the U.S. Track Coaches Association in 1984
and 1985.
Under Ehrhart's direction, Drake track and cross country teams won nine
Missouri Valley Conference championships, including six in indoor track,
two in cross country and one in outdoor track. No team in the history of
the MVC has dominated the league's indoor track and field championships
by winning those six team titles in a row.
Ehrhart coached 23 NCAA All-Americans, 12 at Northwestern and 11 at
Drake including 1970 NCAA decathlon champion Rick Wanamaker and standout
sprinter Kevin Little, a two-time All-American at both the NCAA Indoor
and Outdoor Championships in 1989 and 1990.
Ehrhart coached 77 Missouri Valley Conference indoor track and field
champions - the most from any coach in the history of MVC indoor track
and field. He also coached 43 Missouri Valley Conference individual
outdoor track and field champions.
He also coached 30 All-Missouri Valley Conference cross-country
performers, including five MVC individual cross-country champions: Lynn
Lee (1970), Boyd Nansel (1975, 76) and Vern Iwancin (1980, 81).
In addition to his head coaching duties, he also served as the director
of the Drake Relays for 31 years. During his leadership, the number of
events at the Drake Relays expanded from 49 in his first year to more
than 100 events. In addition, the number of college teams and
participants also more than tripled from 2,763 athletes in 1970 to a
record 9,185 entries in 2000.
In addition to countless meet records, 14 national collegiate records,
13 American marks and one world record were set during Ehrhart's tenure.
Funeral services will be held Thursday 2 p.m. at the Plymouth
Congregational United Church of Christ in Des Moines.
Visitation will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Brooks
Funeral Care, 7975 University Blvd. in Clive. The Ehrhart family will be
present from 6 to 8 p.m.
Study says wearing ice vests aids cross country runners
When runners compete in hot and humid weather, it's no surprise that
athletic performance can suffer. As core body temperature rises, the
risk of heat illness increases. A recent study out of Brigham Young
University showed that wearing ice vests before cross-country races
allowed athletes to start and finish the competition with a lower core
body temperature in a warm, humid environment than those who did not
wear one.
"Warming Up With an Ice Vest: Core Body Temperature Before and After
Cross-Country Racing," was published in the winter issue of the Journal
of Athletic Training, the quarterly scientific publication of the
National Athletic Trainers' Association. The research subjects were 18
women from an NCAA Division I cross-country running team who
participated in either the 2005 Big Wave Invitational 4-km race in
Hawaii or the 2005 Great American 5-km Race in North Carolina.
The ice vest used in the study sported 20 pouches that were loaded with
ice packs. Adjustable straps allowed for a relatively tight fit to avoid
excessive movement of the vest while the athlete warmed up. Four hours
before the start of each race, the athletes ingested radiotelemetry
temperature sensors to record their core body temperature, which was
assessed pre-warm up, just before the race and just after the race. Then
half of the athletes donned ice vests, which were removed immediately
before the race began.
"The results of the study showed that the ice vest slowed the increase
in core body temperature throughout cross-country warm-up and racing
among the participants," said Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, director of
athletic training at the University of Connecticut. and one of the
study's authors.
The report hypothesizes that pre-cooling can reduce the physiological
strain associated with intense exercise in the heat. "Although our study
did not investigate performance among our subjects, earlier studies have
tested the effects of pre-cooling on performance and observed improved
performance in endurance events of this type," Casa said.
In the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, a few American
distance runners and all Australian Olympic athletes were fitted with
prototype ice vests, which were designed to lower body temperature prior
to the start of a race.
"Although the ice vest was only one of many strategies used by the
American and Australian Olympic runners to enhance performance in the
heat, this intervention appeared to be effective among the marathoners
who used the vests," Casa said. "In fact, Deena Kastor and Meb
Keflezighi of the United States exceeded early expectations and earned
Olympic medals - and both of them wore ice vests before competing."
To review "Warming Up With an Ice Vest: Core Body Temperature Before and
After Cross-Country Racing" in its entirety, visit: www.nata.org.
-Courtesy National Athletic Trainers Association
Comment on this story.
Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest
|
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
